Crufts reputation is at stake!
Animal charities have complained to Channel 4 after the winner of Crufts best in show was found to have been convicted of animal cruelty, and said the winning dog is an “extreme” breed that has had a “lifetime of suffering”.
After Lee Cox and his four-year-old Clumber spaniel Bruin won best in show at the prestigious dog competition, it emerged that Cox had a previous conviction for animal cruelty.
The RSPCA and Peta have asked for extreme examples of breeds to no longer be eligible for prizes, and for full vetting for people who compete at Crufts. Peta has asked for Channel 4 to pull the show from air. The RSPCA has called for the dog show to stop featuring animals that have extreme features such as flat faces, wrinkly skin, short or missing tails, and protruding eyeballs.
These can leave dogs at high risk of significant welfare problems, such as being unable to breathe, blink, sleep, play or exercise normally; or painful eye, spinal, skin or dental conditions.
The BBC stopped showing Crufts in 2008 after outcry over the extreme breeds celebrated by the competition, and the show was not broadcast on television the following year. Channel 4 picked it up in 2010 and has been televising it since.
Cox was found in 2001 to have kept a spaniel with a chronically infected ear that eventually had to be surgically removed. A court was told when an inspector visited the Somerset-based kennel, he encountered dogs covered in dirt and a strong stench from dog waste and overflowing drains.